Old nightmare Revised
by Izzu
Summary: The past returned to haunt Sanzo party as the enemy tried to subdue them using illusions from Goku's lost memories of the past. How will the group face this conflict as Goku become troubled with the past he doesn't remember.
1. Prologue

az: Suddenly felt moved to revise this again. Basing the general plot on the original piece I wrote in the past and now permanently deleted. Probably doing the same to Silent Soul as well. A part of me felt sad for losing all those reviews but I hoped somehow old followers could find this story and hopefully stil follows it. We'll see how the story would change.

This should be set based on the anime with some adjustment to manga to connect it. But the timeline should still be post Homura arc and before RELOAD Gunlock/Reload manga.

* * *

Old Nightmare

Chapter 0: Prologue

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izzu

o

o

Son Goku merely laid his eyes towards the clutter of food served at the table before them without even touching it. Noticing this peculiar behaviour, Hakkai paused between eating as he looked up towards the boy.

"Goku... is there something wrong? Why aren't you eating?", he asked as he placed a hand on Goku's shoulder. His eyes flitted towards Sanzo's direction as he seemed to be uneasy as well.

Goku shrugged to himself. "Nothing. It's just... these few nights, I had a very horrible nightmare. It seemed so real... it scared me. Wonder why... I can't seem to get my mind off this—"

Without warning, Gojyo laughed. "...just a dream? You don't usually lost your appetite because of it in the past so why now—don't make such lame excuse—"

Goku frowned at him as he got up from is seat and looking as if about to jump on Gojyo before a hand stopped him on his track. The hand forced the young boy to sit down as Goku turned towards Sanzo.

"Don't take that bait, stupid monkey. The pervert don't deserve it, you should just go eat—"

"But—"

"JUST SHUT UP AND EAT, YOU STUPID MONKEY!"

Everyone jumped at that outburst as Goku closed his mouth. Goku cocked his head at him as he noticed Sanzo pinching the side of his head, as if in pain. He rose again to check on him before Sanzo slapped his hand away when he tried to touched his forehead.

"Sanzo? Something wrong with you—"

"I'm fine!"

"You don't look so fine, Sanzo. And don't talk to Goku like that—"

"CAN'T ANY OF YOU JUST—"

Both Hakkai and Goku immediately got up and rushed to catch him as Sanzo swayed a bit when he suddenly got up to leave the table. Gojyo stared at him in surprise as Goku looked at him worried. Hakkai sighed as he helped Sanzo sit.

"Sit down. I'll go find something to ease the pain. You had a migraine, did you? I'm sure I had something in my pack... wait here—" said Hakkai gently as he went off. Goku slowly approached Sanzo before wrapping his arms around him.

"Oi," Sanzo quipped but didn't push the boy away. "What're you doing? Let go of me."

"Does it make you feel better? Don't make me scared... Sanzo."

Sanzo snickered. "Idiot. Just keep your mouth shut."

Gojyo started to snort at himself, seeing such tender moments in front of him before Goku threw Sanzo's paper fan at him. Hakkai laughed as he returned shortly after that and helped Sanzo to taking his medications.

xxx

He wanted to cry. He really did. The pounding on his head was that unbearable, it felt as if his head about to break. And Goku being all worried and not his usual hungry self made him more depressed. Genjo Sanzo was not this weak—yet, a part of him yearned for such gesture of comfort.

_And what was that dream that he saw last night?_

He doubted that his dream was anything related to the one that had bothered Goku these few days—he just wondered why both of them happened to get one at the same time. And what was all that about? Perhaps because recently with the incident involving Homura and his posse calling him Konzen and stuffs—he ended up having these dreams but why was his head so in pain? No doubt this Konzen or what other names mentioned had anything related to him but still—! Why was he so troubled by it?

_Come to think, he thought he had heard Kanzeon Bosatsu called him that before..._

God! He never felt so fragile... thank goodness Hakkai arrived with the pain-killers fast enough. Falling to the deep oblivion of sleep was such a bliss. Not having to think... or hearing voices calling on him over and over again felt so much like a luxury...

xxx

"Hakkai, how long is it before the next stop?"

Hakkai shrugged as he glanced sideways towards Gojyo. "Still long way there. A lot of hills and mountains and sands... unless you wanted to navigate and find us a better short-cut—" he said as he threw the map at Gojyo's face before continuing to drive.

"I sure am envying these two on the back for sleeping so soundly. Despite the sun right now and this kind of weather..."

"Maa... you can't blame them. I ended up having to give Sanzo the strongest painkiller I had—and Goku haven't been able to sleep well these few days. It was a relief to see him eating something in the end and actually calm down. And I see that rest was what Sanzo needed right now..."

Gojyo snorted as he grinned.

"Honestly, buddy... you were like our mother. It seemed all you did was watching over them—"

Hakkai laughed. "Doesn't that makes Sanzo the _father?_ Honestly—"

"Don't kill me with laughter, Hakkai! I can't imagine Sanzo being... oh you idiot. Now that image is stuck!"

Both of them laughed as they continued their journey west. But unknown to them, at the far distance; danger loomed before them as it hinted for even more pain and sorrow than what they had already faced in the past...


	2. Uphill

az: Doing this now after reading the rest of Gaiden and the rest of the series. So I should be able to gauge how this would end up as.

* * *

Old Nightmare

Chapter 1: Uphill

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izzu

o

o

"Sanzo... are we there yet?"

"Shut up, not yet!"

"Sanzo are we there yet—?"

Sanzo slapped his palm onto his head. Every day, every single similar ritual... for some reason he wondered if this cycle would ever end! It was not like they haven't climbed any other mountains like this before—and Goku kept asking about it every few seconds going to drive him crazy. But taking out his paper fan right now would be wasting even more energy than necessary—

"Goku? Could you bear with it for a while? The next town should be somewhere near... and hopefully the town would still have people living in it—so after that we'll get our rest, okay?"

Goku glanced at Hakkai miserably before nodding. His stomach started rumbling again and his feet getting even more painful—but Hakkai's right, he should bear with it. He sighed.

"But can I just _whine_ about it—?"

"No," quipped Sanzo sternly as he continued walking.

"My feet hurt—I'll walk! I'll walk!" Goku hastily said as Sanzo gave him a glare. Gojyo snorted to himself before started running as Goku chased after him. Sanzo shook his head as Hakkai chuckled.

"Lively, aren't they? I can't believe they could still have so much energy left to play around—"

"It's because they were idiots, that's why," said Sanzo plainly as Hakkai laughed again. Hakuryu perched on his shoulder as Hakkai turned to watch Goku and Gojyo raced towards the top of the mountain. He sighed as he turned towards Sanzo.

"So how about you? Feeling better now?"

Sanzo shrugged.

"Guess so, though I still couldn't shake this feeling I had. And with those two... I'll expect more headaches coming."

"Hahaha... should we get some umbrellas out? The sunlight right now seemed pretty strong as well—"

"Don't say such lame joke...", Sanzo sighed. "And I thought that monkey said his feet were hurting!"

Almost on cue, Goku collapsed on the ground somewhere in front of them as he started whining again. Gojyo started making gestures to tease the boy as Hakkai and Sanzo quickened their pace.

"Like hell I'm gonna carry you around, idiot! Go crawl then if you can't walk. Sanzo probably gonna say the same thing to you—" exclaimed Gojyo.

"How flattering... you managed to save my breath for saying that." said Sanzo as Hakkai shrugged at the kid.

"Well... you brought it to yourself, dear. You shouldn't have been running around like that."

Goku pouted at them.

"Okay... FINE. I'll crawl if I had to—"

Hakkai hastily rushed forward to stop Goku before another hand caught it. Goku looked up towards Sanzo as the man knelt beside him.

"Get up. I can't believe I'm doing this... but leaving you behind is not _really_ an option. Get on my back!"

Goku blinked at him before doing it hesitantly. Sanzo groaned under his breath as he got back to his feet.

"You're so heavy... don't move around so much."

Gojyo snickered. "Aww, ain't that cute. The little monkey and his papa out on piggy ride trip—oww!"

Sanzo raised his eyebrows at him as Hakkai elbowed him sharply.

"Don't forget, you were also at fault for this—"

"Yeah... yeah, but I bet secretly Sanzo was loving it—"

"You wanna _die_?" Came the warning tone as Sanzo trudged forward with Goku on tow. Sanzo smirked as he got his temporary peace. He could still hear Hakkai admonishing Gojyo with low voice, which made him feeling even more cheered—but he would not admit to that. Goku, on the other hand...

"Sanzo... are you mad?"

He snorted, a part of him started to recall the smaller version of the monkey asking the same of him. That adorable dumpling...

He wished he was carrying that shortie instead of this grown up monkey.

"No. I was just feeling... uneasy. So shut up and keep still. Feet still hurt?"

Goku shook his head.

"Not much, but I did feel a little dizzy..."

Sanzo snorted again. As he had thought.

"Serves you right then, for getting sunstroke. Did you even eat anything earlier?"

"Not much..."

"Hnn!"

"... _sorry_."

xxx

The ambush arrived almost as he had sensed it earlier. As if their fatigue for having climbed and descended a mountain and driving through a desert had disappeared into thin air, Sanzo and the three immediately jumped out to receive their _hosts_. Watching from a distance, three youkai were watching them with interest.

"Master Jinno... it seemed that rumour was indeed true. Those four are indeed strong. No wonder that even Prince Kougaiji was defeated by them." said one female youkai.

"Trying to catch them unawares would be tricky." Shoji, another of their companion commented. He took out a compiled notes he had with him as he skimmed through it. "From what had been written here, our people had gathered a lot of information about Genjo Sanzo, Cho Hakkai and Sha Gojyo and used it against them. It doesn't seem to have much help to aid us in defeating them."

Jinno, eyeing Goku from afar frowned.

"What about Son Goku?" he asked.

Shoji shrugged. "Aside from the legends involving him and information we've had of him, not much was gathered. It was assumed that those three rogue deities that had attacked the castle before knew something more about Son Goku, but what was it... we do not know. From the heresay, his true form... Seiten Taisei was very strong. It doesn't seem that that guy had any weakness spare Genjo Sanzo. And that monk... was also not someone that we could underestimate."

Jinno nodded. "True. Genjo Sanzo had the Maten Kyomon... we cannot be careless of its power. But I disagree about Seiten Taisei not having any kinds of weakness. The legends about him... we knew nothing about what happened before his imprisonment at Mount Gogyo. Perhaps we could use that...illusionary magic was my speciality after all—"

Shoji and Yuka, the female youkai, turned towards Jinno. "What did you mean?" Both of them had asked.

"We don't even know about Seiten Taisei's past! How—"

Shoji frowned at their leader.

"You think of using that old incantation? We had not even mastered using it, how—"

Jinno smirked.

"It's because we haven't met the right conditions to make it work. If the spell worked and we manage to uncover a vital weakness of Seiten Taisei, perhaps we could receive even more rewards from Mistress Gyokumen Koushu herself. We might as well as elevate our position among our youkai ranks!"

Shoji and Yuka glanced worriedly to each other as Jinno continued smiling proudly.

**"I will succeed!" **


	3. Shadows

Old Nightmare

Chapter 2: Shadows and trickery

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izzu

o

o

The sounds of bullets followed by battle cries of the fighter as well as the sounds of the defeated filled the air. Dead bodies either fallen to the ground or disintegrated into thin air, everything seemed to be in disarray. Yet, the foursome did not appear tired or weakened as they continued attacking and returning the blows from their enemies.

Hakkai started laughing to himself as Sanzo scolded him.

"Hakkai, stop enjoying yourself like that. This was not just a picnic... you!"

Hakkai grinned as he sent a ki blast onto one direction, destroying quite a number of youkai in its path. He sighed.

"I wonder if it was the heat? But don't you agree, Sanzo... that this makes a good stress relief? Considering what happened earlier—"

Sanzo shrugged as he ducked, just as the blade of a shakujo breezed past him; slashing past another set of the youkai hoard.

"I guess... but right now, I'm not feeling your _stress-relief_ effects." Sanzo turned around as he hollered towards Gojyo. Gojyo swerved in alarm as a bullet swerved past his head, killing off one youkai. "Oi, you almost cut off my head, you pervert! Wanna die?"

Gojyo grumbled as he evaded several blades from cutting him as he swung his shakujo again to kill his attackers. He turned as he shouted.

"I should say the same to you as well, you crazy monk!"

"Maa... maa..." Hakkai chuckled. "We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves—the four of us are still alive!"

"Hah..." Gojyo looked up as he watched Goku jump and swerved as he took down his share of youkai. He whistled. "Looks like the big monkey have been revived! Is this the effect of our honourable Sanzo's presence?"

"Go die!" cried Sanzo as he kicked him down before shooting off a few more youkai. The remaining group immediately backed away as the four gathered around nearer to each other. Sanzo groaned, suddenly feeling the dread in the pit of his stomach again. What was it that seemed to be a problem right now? It was not like they haven't encountered a hoard like this in the past…

A sound of clapping and the four turned to find a silver-haired youkai walking out into a clearing before them. Seeing the way the rest of the minions backing away to give way to the youkai as well as his other two companions, this man should be the ringleader.

Gojyo smirked.

"Heh? New guy… huh? Looks like he's trying so hard to become like Kougaiji—"

Goku and Hakkai snorted as Sanzo eyed the man and his newly arrived companions closely. What were they planning? In any case, the four of them were still surrounded—but why did all of them not doing anything?

"Sanzo's party… hand over the Maten scripture!" said the silver-haired youkai as Sanzo spat back.

"I refuse!"

The youkai smirked. "I expected that answer from you," he said as without warning, he and two of his companions that had been following him from behind disappeared. Hakkai frowned as the four of them grew wary. Before they could react, a series of explosions erupted from the grounds around them as their surroundings were quickly filled with white smoke.

Coughing loudly, Hakkai ushered Hakuryu to fly away to safety as he called out for Sanzo and the others.

"Watch out, everyone! I had a bad feeling about this!"

"Yeah… you don't need to tell us—" Gojyo gave a cry as he felt something brushing past him. He turned as he saw no one. But he could have sworn—and immediately he heard similar reactions coming from the others. It seemed as their field of view became limited with this white smoke surrounding them, their enemies were taking this chance to sneak towards them. But judging on his own situation as well as what he had heard from the others, it seemed their enemies did not attempt to attack them. So why—

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Goku? !" Sanzo shouted as he rushed blindly towards his voice. As he managed to see Goku's silhouette amongst the smoke, he overheard some kind of chanting in low voice before quickening his pace. Goku screamed again as Sanzo made a blind swipe towards the attacked before the youkai disappeared back into the smoke that had started to thicken again. Sanzo called out towards Hakkai and Gojyo as he helped Goku up.

"Goku? Wake up!" he exclaimed as Goku slowly opened his eyes and saw him.

"Eh?" he exclaimed before sitting up. "What happened—?"

"I'm not—" Sanzo started to say as he heard the unrecognisable chanting again before realizing that this time there were two other voices joining the chant. Those voices started to increase in volume as Sanzo could hear Gojyo and Hakkai calling out to them in alarm. Sanzo immediately ushered Goku to get up before noticing something written on the ground—and those writings started to glow!

"Argh!"

Sanzo turned towards Goku immediately before noticing a talisman placed on the boy and that talisman also had been glowing. Biting some curses under his breath, Sanzo reached out towards the talisman to rip it out and free Goku from its spell. The move caused the spell to become haywire as Sanzo felt a strong jolt of electricity running through his body as he screamed in pain.

Somewhere nearby, Hakkai and Gojyo frantically moved around to fan away the smoke that was blocking their view before seeing the ground glowed to form some kind of seal around them. Both of them cried in pain as the pattern ran from under their feet and sent a jolt of electricity on them. Hakkai quickly shoved Gojyo aside to move him away from the pattern on the ground as the sensation stopped.

"What the—?"

"I think those are circuits! Someone was trying to recite a spell… and by the looks of it, this was nothing simple—"

"Those other two!" Gojyo exclaimed as they rushed to find their other comrades. Just then, they could hear Sanzo and Goku screamed.

"Sanzo! Goku!" both of them cried out as the entire field exploded, covering them in darkness…

xxx

Goku woke up to find himself in an unfamiliar room. Yet, there was a certain feel of familiarity to this room. He could not remember… but he could feel it in his bones. What was this…

What happened before this? He could remember running to a group of youkai and fighting them. And there was this smoke… and he was suddenly attacked… and he remembered that uneasy feeling that someone tried to enter his mind…

Goku turned around suddenly as he thought he saw something—someone. He frowned as he saw someone… with a golden blond hair like Sanzo's. But Sanzo's hair was not _that _long…

A sudden feeling of anxiety suddenly overcame him as Goku ran out of the room to call on Sanzo.

xxx

_What was this…_

Sanzo glanced around at his surroundings as his eyes set sight on the long corridors. It seemed all those elaborate spells being performed, were all just to create this kind of a maze illusion. He touched the walls to find it as solid as any real walls he could have seen. A solid illusion… not just any spells had been used. Why did the enemy felt needed to take such roundabout way just to separate them in a maze like this? Not like it could make any difference of the four of them were separated. The four of them may not be invincible, but they were not that weak to be easily defeated…

_"Sanzo"_

He blinked. That's…

That monkey's voice! He groaned. Why was it that almost every time the two of them gets separated… that annoying voice in his head would start to call on him again. As if he had a mental beeper inside his head that would be turned on every time Goku needed him. He sighed.

"Don't make this a habit, you annoying monkey!" Sanzo hissed from under his breath as he marched through the corridors.

_And who the hell gave him such tasteless piece of wardrobe too!_

xxx

"What the hell was this?" muttered Hakkai as he attacked another pursuer again. But unlike usually their attackers were _not _youkai or anything else, he couldn't sense anything from them and they were not really what you call solid. Yet, their appearance looked like…

_The soldiers from the Heaven's Heavenly Army…_

Hakkai shook his head. Couldn't be. So far as it has been, they haven't been doing anything that could have incurred the wrath of heaven—after all, their journey west was _by_ the orders of heaven so—what was the reasoning? Or this was just an illusion by those youkai troops that had been attacking them from earlier? How on earth exactly did they ended up in this place from that place in the middle of a desert anyway?

_"General Tenpou! Go on ahead! We'll handle these guys here…"_

Hakkai turned around as he dodged another attack before vanquishing another_ set of soldiers_. What was that voice he had heard earlier? General Tenpou? Who was that?_ Wasn't that one of the names he thought he had heard Homura and his comrades had mentioned in the past?_

Hakkai continued running blindly past the corridors before tripping on something and fell on the floor. His glasses fell—wait a minute! He didn't _have_ a pair of glasses—Hakkai picked the glasses on the ground as he stared at it in confusion.

Hakkai turned to look at the _body_ that he had tripped over earlier. Hakkai gasped as he turned the body around to find a man who looked _almost exactly as him_ but with longer hair. _And very clearly dead too_, he thought as Hakkai saw the open wound on the man's stomach as well as the spilled intestines. Cold chill ran into his spine as he recalled having similar injuries in the past as well.

_What—?_

The _body_ suddenly vanished as Hakkai gasped aloud. He jumped as he felt a hand grabbing on his shoulders before turning around in fright. _Gojyo_ jumped.

"Whoa! Don't scare me like that!"

Hakkai stared at him suspiciously.

"Go… jyo?"

Gojyo shrugged. "Yeah, it's me. Surprised you, eh? _I wonder if this purple hair was another illusion… too bad._"

"Why did you look like that?"

Gojyo looked at him with one eye before shrugging.

"Beats me. I woke up already looking like this. Scared me a bit when I thought I saw a giant bear trying to eat me… but that was just a stupid illusion. But don't jump on me like that, you also got a new makeover… Hakkai."

Hakkai blinked as he finally took a look at himself. He was not wearing his usual green shirt he wore often and he noticed his hair was longer—it felt so real as well—Hakkai realized something as he recalled that _man_ he found earlier. _He looked just like him._

"Gojyo! Just now… did you hear any strange voices… or see anything else that was weird?"

"Wha—I don't know. Aside from the _giant bear_ earlier, of course. Come to think—I didn't see any of those youkai coming to attack us… yet—oh! My bad for saying that aloud."

Just as he said it, a number of youkai appeared as they started fighting again. Sensing their youki energies, Hakkai knew that these were actual real enemies. Which means Sanzo and Goku should also get this kind of welcoming party as well… somewhere…

"We gotta finish them off quickly! Those other two might be in trouble as well!"

"Indeed!"

xxx

Sanzo gasped as he entered the room. There was a large golden gate in front of _them_, similar to the one he had seen before at Konran temple when Homura and the others tried to create a new world. He frowned at it before turning his eyes towards Goku, who had been standing still nearby. He hurriedly walked towards him as he pulled him aside.

"Hey, what're you—?"

Goku's eyes were glazed as he stared blankly towards the gate. Sanzo frowned as he followed the gaze… _towards a small figure _that had been crouching on the floor. While such sight should not alarm one's self, it did not help that the figure looked exactly as that same small monkey that he had first released from a sealed cave at Mount Gogyo. Sanzo's frown deepened as his eyes went towards the gate in front of them. There was a splatter of blood... but it didn't look like the kid was hurt...

Suddenly his vision was blinded by a white light as he saw an image of a younger Goku crying in front of him, clinging to him... refusing to let go. He heard voices... and then there was a sensation of having his body being crushed—!

Sanzo gasped as his senses returning to reality. His breath became unsteady as he recalled the feeling he had, moments ago.

_What was that? It felt so real for a moment..._

_"I promise. Next time... I'll be the one to reach out towards you."_

Sanzo turned around but saw no one. Whose voice was that? Why was it that he felt so uneasy now? What kind of trick did the enemy used?

"Kon... zen... Kon... zen...!"

He turned towards Goku as he realized it was not him that had talked, but the small child. His heart kept on beating so fast as Sanzo tried reaching towards the small kid but just as he was about to get close, the kid disappeared. He frowned again. What was this supposed to mean?

_"Konzen..."_

Homura used to call him by that name. What was the relation to that... with this?

Sanzo turned around towards Goku who still remained still as if stunned. He rose as he grabbed Goku by his shoulders to snap him outta this.

"Oi! Wake up, Goku! What are you doing being stunned like this?"

Goku slowly came to as he looked up towards him. He could see relief overwhelming the kid... but he noticed the anxiety was there.

"Sa... Sanzo? You're alright?"

Sanzo bit his lips.

"I'm the one supposed to ask you that, idiot! What are you doing standing still like you've seen a ghost?"

Goku blinked. "A... ghost?" He shook his head. "No... I'm not sure. I don't really think of anything—but suddenly, when I came into this room... I felt so very afraid. Suddenly I felt so scared... of losing... you. Or Hakkai... or even Gojyo. I can't explain it... I don't know how... it's just suddenly—!"

Sanzo gritted his teeth as he felt an urge to smack the kid in front of him. For something so irrational...

But instead, he placed a hand on Goku's forehead..

"Stupid. I thought we've gotten this issue resolved long time ago. I'm not going anywhere... I'm not going to leave you. Don't you keep crying every time something like this so easily."

Goku sobbed. "I know... but still—!"

He sighed. A smoke would be fine... right about now.

"I'm really going to kill those bastards."

xxx

"Really... a bear?"

Gojyo leered at Hakkai. "I said a GIANT one! Dammit... I thought I lost my heart over there—"

Hakkai chuckled.

"And you found that to be more surprising than your appearance right now? Seriously, Gojyo... I couldn't imagine you being in some kind of a military organization..."

"Hah! Joke all you want... I'm just wondering, whose idea was it to trap us in this place and—" Gojyo eyed their surroundings—at the many corridors and rooms—as he tried to find something to word his thoughts, "THIS!" He said in the end.

Hakkai shrugged.

"I wonder if Heaven looked like this..."

Gojyo turned towards him. "What're you talking about? This? Heaven? Did you hit your head on something before or all that thing with Homura gave you strange ideas?"

Hakkai cocked his head at him. "Gojyo. Just now I thought I've seen a dead body with his intestines sprawled on the floor that bore resemblance to me and disappeared mysteriously. Tell me if my imaginations are running wild. And you remembered how Homura used to call us but with a different set of names..."

"You're worrying too much. And now it looked like we had company."

A new group of youkai started to approach them as Hakkai sighed. "I wished all of them would all come at us at once. Waiting for them to come and greet us in turn started to get boring."

Gojyo laughed.

xxx

Sanzo checked his gun and the bullets as he held it loosely on his palm. He glanced towards Goku as the kid had already started calming down. Ushering him to leave the place, Sanzo glared towards the end of the corridors. Towards their enemies. How many people up to now had managed to piss him off?

Well... they're going to wish they haven't made him angry...

"Are you ready or not... you bastards?"


	4. Standstill

az: I've forgotten all these times but I guess if following the anime-verse-I sorta based this timeline as after Homura arc but before Kami-sama arc but still during Reload time. Ah, confusing. And yes, I do need to change the plot again, so that it did not clash with Even a Worm arc.

* * *

Old Nightmare

Chapter 3: At a Standstill

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izzu

o

o

"Watch yourself; don't let your guard down."

"Unn."

Sanzo glanced towards Goku as he cast him a worried look.

"You okay?"

Goku looked up towards him before shaking his head.

"I'm... fine—"

"Don't push yourself too much if you can't. I won't blame you for that." Goku stared at him in confusion before Sanzo continued, "—last time, you said you did not remember anything from your past... didn't you? So you don't need to try so hard to act strong in front of me—"

He started walking and paused as he felt his robe being tugged. Goku was solemnly clutching his robe while looking down towards the floor.

"B-but... I can't explain—I never thought I could have felt so scared like that. This feeling... compared to the feelings I've felt when I used to be inside that cave by myself, it was scarier—"

Goku blinked as he felt Sanzo's hand on top of his head again.

"That's why I said no pushing it. Somehow, the more you freak out the louder your voice started to resound in my head!"

Goku laughed nervously at him.

"S-sorry—"

"About time you get it—"

"—but what did you mean my voice got louder? I haven't been talking much right now."

Sanzo stopped walking as both of them went silent for a while. He sighed.

"Even if I could explain to you, you probably won't get it."

xxx

"Sa... Sanzo! Goku!" cried Hakkai as he and Gojyo raced towards them.

"About time we caught up with you gu—eh, nice look you got there... shitty monk."

Sanzo raised an eyebrow at him cynically before deciding that it was not worthwhile to waste a bullet on the idiot's head. Gojyo started to grin before noticing the peculiar look Goku gave them.

"What? Never saw me before?"

Goku blinked before shaking his head.

"N-no, it's just... I thought I had remembered something. My bad, hehe... hee..."

"Did something happen... Sanzo?"

Sanzo's eyes fluttered towards Hakkai before he shrugged.

"No." He glanced around before sighing.

"Did you happen to see anyone else in this... place?"

"Beats me..." said Gojyo as he sauntered away. "Unless you count some hoards of youkai coming to greet and a bunch of imaginary soldiers and random imaginary giant bear. And also mysterious doppelgänger... if _Mama_ there haven't imagined it,"

Hakkai's eyes twinkled before going serious again. "I can't figure out what's this all about."

Sanzo pulled out a cigarette—it appeared that regardless of their appearances, the real actual things did not change—and lighted it. He puffed on it a bit before shrugging. "Guess some wise guy thinking that they might try driving us mad with some cheap illusion they manage to learn up somewhere. Or... they must have been so bored or brainless to pull this out of nowhere just as we were about to finish the rest of them."

**_"Aah... that was so harsh, Master Sanzo. Just when we were trying our best to get to know you guys more."_**

The four of them turned around towards the roof of one of the buildings near them. A silver-haired youkai just smiled at them.

"But honestly... I thought I was aiming towards creating an illusion based on one of your companions' worst nightmares but instead I got _this_. Guess I still need to do more practice."

The three youkai jumped off the roof as several shots of bullets hit the tiles.

"Ch!"

Sanzo cursed under his breath as he continued shooting at the enemy. Hakkai and Gojyo followed suit as Goku summoned his nyoibou. Even more youkai appeared as the four strengthened their defence. Sanzo stopped Goku just as he was about to strike.

"Pay attention to what the leaders are doing. If they were here, it must mean that whatever talisman or spells they used to create this space is nearby. Take note of their actions and strike. Leave the other distractions to Hakkai and Gojyo."

Goku turned towards Sanzo before nodding.

"...okay!"

xxx

_"Kyuu...!"_

In the middle of the dessert, a lone white dragon flew anxiously around an empty spot. It seemed, after the explosion earlier and after the dust had settled; there were no longer a trace of its fellow four companions or even their enemies. When the small dragon tried to fly lower, it was hit by an invisible barrier that covered quite a bit of area of the dessert.

Kanzeon Bosatsu sighed to herself. Those boys did have a talent in attracting problems. Then again, she wouldn't expect them to just run away every time they were being attacked; as amusing that thought could be. Well, they weren't the type to get killed so easily so she had no reason to get particularly worried about it. It's just...

Her eyes wandered towards Nataku, who continued sitting on his throne, unmoving all these times as if lifeless. Wondering, when will it be time for that child to become aware again. Because while this child had remained locked in his past memories... the other child was now...

Her attention returned towards the World Below, and towards the small form of what used to be the noble Dragon King Gaojun of the West Seas.

_'...the memories that had been carved into your soul will never disappear. They will become your blood and bone, and give you the strength to live.'_

She smiled. Wonder why did she suddenly remembered that line? Hah.

It has been a while. And it remained true that watching those _five_ continued to give her a lot of pleasure. Those boys had continued to grow so strong... especially that child. She still remembered that tear struck face of the child that continued crying over the loss of her favourite nephew... how that child had grown. How Konzen had changed as well...

She sighed. If that child's memories would resurface again, what would the future holds for them? Would there be another disaster forthcoming, as it had been in the past? True, she had erased them long ago aside from the memory of his name given by his nephew; but she wondered if those memories ever truly disappear. All these times... watching over many lives on that World Below had thought her, no matter how many times one would be reborn; some things never did disappeared. Even if they did not know or remembered the existence of those memories... their souls did remember. And Goku did showed some kind of recollection about Konzen in the past. This journey, this task that they had undertaken... will somehow leads back to their pasts; the irony. What could happen then when that time came? Even if she did have a hand in arranging this, she wondered if everything would turn out for the best.

"For you as well... eh, Nataku?" she said again towards the silent child.

But perhaps it was still too early for them to take this path. The time for it was not ripe as of yet.

"That boy may not like it, but perhaps I should give them a visit—", she wondered aloud before glancing towards the World Below, "—eh, Konzen? Or should I say... _Genjo Sanzo_?"

xxx

A sound of explosion as a marble pillar crumbled to dust, as well as the talisman hidden inside. Immediately all around them, every single building and object save themselves and their enemies started to collapse. Even the sky as well. Within moments, they returned to standing at the middle of a desert. Hakuryu flew down towards Hakkai to perch on his shoulders, seemingly glad to have found them. Sanzo glanced skywards as if marvelling at the sky.

"Something wrong, Sanzo?" asked Hakkai as he shrugged.

"No... I thought I heard someone calling my name. Probably some crow..." (Kanzeon: Hey! This brat...!)

Sanzo turned his attention towards their enemies before sighing. He started reloading his gun as he groaned. "I wished I could call off a break from these guys..."

Hakkai laughed. "I wonder if we can do that—"

"Hey, you bastards! Quit chatting and give us a hand damn it!" Hakkai grinned towards Gojyo as he kept firing his ki blast towards another side.

"Haha... isn't that what I'm doing right now?" he said light-heartedly as Sanzo's shooting sent some youkai onto the ground. Blades continued clashing before Gojyo shouted towards them as several more of their enemies fell.

"You guys are too laid-back!"

xxx

"The plan's not going so well... Jin."

Jinno glanced towards his friend as he shrugged. "I wonder... I did think that maybe that illusion we made had affected them in a way..."

"Heh... I guess your plan failed, old friend." said Shoji as he waved his sword around casually.

The three of them turned as they saw another group fell under Sha Gojyo's hand as the group surrounding Genjo Sanzo and Cho Hakkai had similar setbacks. Jinno's eyes flashed as he noticed Son Goku's attack started to falter. He smiled.

"I think you're wrong, Sho. That Goku seems to—"

The three of them watched in interest as they saw Sanzo dropped his guard before turning to warn Goku of another attack, thus ended up allowing one of their minions to attack him. Jinno started ushering Yuka and Shoji to join him to back up their men. Without warning, all of them were blown aback as a strong pressure rushed towards them.

"What was that?" Yuka gasped as the dust started to clear.

Shoji started to answer that question before Seiten Taisei Son Goku lunged towards them...


	5. Sore

az: I probably gonna suck while trying to put many ideas inside. Forgive me if anyone got out of character XD.

* * *

Old Nightmare

Chapter 4: Sore

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izzu

o

o

"_Those are __golden-coloured__ eyes! This child was a heretic; it will be bad luck to us!_"

"_Golden-eyed heretics like him would bring nothing good to us but chaos!_"

"_He must receive severe punishment for this! Severe punishment!_"

"Eh?"

Goku froze for a moment before regaining his composure—just in time to evade being slashed by a long blade from a youkai who had lunged from behind him. He hastily turned his nyoibou into a sansetsukon and countered as three youkai fell. Another two had their heads blown as Sanzo shot them down.

"Idiot! Don't space out like that!"

Goku turned around to face him to apologise but before he could, his eyes widened in alarm. "Sanzo—! Behind you!"

Both Hakkai and Gojyo turned around just in time to see a youkai swinging his sword towards Sanzo's back. Goku shouted towards him in alarm as Sanzo swerved aside to try to evade the attack. Red blood spilled onto the ground as Sanzo fell. The youkai started exclaiming in triumph and was about to take the Maten scripture from Sanzo before his body split into several parts. Gojyo whistled as he marvelled at his own work before resuming fending off the rest of the youkai away from the blond monk.

"Sanzo!" Goku cried again as he reached him. Hakkai was already by his side as Sanzo accepted his help to sit up. He flinched a bit as Hakkai started to heal his wounds before glaring at Goku.

"Quit being so anxious, I'm not hurt that badly."

Goku smiled weakly at him as he looked at Sanzo's injury. The youkai had aimed towards Sanzo's vitals and the attack could have been fatal had Sanzo did not swerved in time. The sword had instead grazed the good part of Sanzo's left shoulder. Goku's body trembled as he watched the blood dripped from Sanzo's back. Sanzo frowned.

"Goku?" Hakkai cried in alarm as Goku's limiter broke.

Gojyo turned and swore as the three of them watched Goku—no, Seiten Taisei—slowly standing up, before turning towards the enemies and started rampaging. Gojyo flinched as he saw Goku brutally attacked one youkai after another, attacking them with his claws or with his own ki power. The kinds of attacks that Goku usually never used normally—even if he used to have a taste of what kind of power Seiten Taisen had, perhaps because Goku had grown stronger since then; the pressure that he felt right now was unbearable. To watch all of this from the sidelines...

The fight ended up too one-sided as the enemy youkai scattered and struggled for their lives against Goku's attack. It was too much that Gojyo started to pity the enemies for it. But as time went on, even _they_ realised that they were of no match against Seiten Taisei as the remaining youkai as well as their leaders fled to safety. Sanzo sighed as he gently pushed Hakkai aside.

"Hakkai, Gojyo... both of you are up next."

Gojyo turned towards him in exasperation as he exclaimed. "What the hell? You're telling us to—"

Sanzo shakily got to his feet as Hakkai helped him stand before looking at him coldly.

"I'm asking you to round him up so that Goku would head towards me and nowhere else. Got a problem with that?"

Gojyo groaned as he took out his shakujou again.

"Well, as long as I don't end up having my arm bitten again or anything else broken... that's fine with me—"

Hakkai let Hakuryu fly again before patting Sanzo's right shoulder.

"Don't push yourself too much either, Sanzo. I didn't manage to heal your injuries completely..."

Sanzo smirked. As if he could die so easily, he thought before turning his eyes towards Goku.

_'After all... that kid was still just a bottomless and bratty little monkey...'_

xxx

"As usual, these things aren't fine with me!"

Hakkai laughed as he drove the jeep into the small town. The journey ended up not too far at all, they managed to make the rest of the way into the town without any more trouble. Despite the town was quite so hidden from view, they had managed to find it without problem.

"Ah well, at least you didn't end up getting hurt too badly."

Gojyo glanced towards him, as he shrugged.

"Well, I would not have been so angry myself about it... but seeing those two behind us was so frustrating!"

Hakkai smiled.

"But they couldn't help it, Gojyo. Sanzo's injury was that bad and Goku—Goku was... well, you know that always happened whenever his limiter was put back on him."

"Yeah, but I don't get why did that monkey always ended up just sleeping every time he got back to normal—"

Hakkai just let out a soft sigh.

"Well, you can't blame him. It was probably a burden to him every time his true power was released—and then to have them sealed off again, you probably wouldn't be able to understand that..."

Gojyo leaned on his seat. "I guess so. I don't have to worry about concealing my appearance or suppressing my powers, being a half-youkai myself."

Hakkai got out of the jeep as they finally reached to an inn in the town. He nudged Gojyo as he told him to arrange for their rooms at the inn before waking Sanzo up. Sanzo glanced towards Goku who was still sleeping on his lap before sighing.

"Could you carry him out, Hakkai?"

"Of course, Sanzo," he answered softly before making room to allow Sanzo to climb down the jeep as he carried Goku out. The two of them entered the inn as they settled for their arrangement for the night,

xxx

She smiled to herself. To think a deity like her had to sneak into a room with four young men sleeping inside just because she didn't want to alert a certain blond monk awake. It was laughable!

When she had entered the room, it was all that she could do not to chuckle aloud. The boys had taken only one room where they ended up staying together, and while Hakkai and Gojyo had lain on their own bed, Sanzo was...

Kanzeon gently ran her hand over Sanzo's hair as he had fallen asleep at Goku's bedside. Immediately, her hand was slapped away as Sanzo woke up. He hissed as his injured arm smarted.

"Damn it, who's daring to wake me—oh, it's you."

"Ara... that was such a cold greeting, _Konzen._ Can't sleep well, can you? You're always so serious when you started to become so fatherly—"

Sanzo stared at her blankly. "What're you talking about, hag?"

She laughed.

"Haha, I remembered one time seeing you all huddled together, sleeping with dear ol' Goku when he was still so small. Both of you were so adorable—"

Kanzeon chuckled again as Sanzo gave her no response. She sighed.

"What a let-down. To think I had thought this far to come down especially for you to keep you company—"

"Shut up, I didn't say that I needed you to comfort me. You gender-mixed stalker!"

She grinned as she patted Sanzo's head fondly before taking a chair to sit beside him. "You're always so adorable... my dear child—"

Sanzo bit his lips before turning his attention towards Goku.

"May I ask you something?"

Kanzeon glanced at him in anticipation. She had figured out that it would come to this. With the last incident with Homura and the others, it would be hard for him to not take notice. Even if he had acted uncaring outwardly to others, she knew that deep inside he did care a lot for the ones dearest to him. That was the person that Konzen had turned into; ever since he had Goku in his care. That was also the kind of person Sanzo had continued being, after being raised lovingly by Koumyou and living with Goku again after that. In any case, she had never regretted seeing these changes happening to her dear nephew...

"What did you want to know?"

"What happened to Goku five hundred years ago? What happened to Konzen, Tenpou and Kenren in the past? Were they related in any way to Goku before? What happened in the past to have Goku being punished to be at that mountain for so long? Why—"

Kanzeon sighed.

"Those questions... I'm afraid that I cannot reveal the details to you as of yet."

"Why not?"

Kanzeon smiled wistfully at him.

"Why did you want to know anyway? This—"

Sanzo rolled his eyes at her.

"Because I don't like how these things gets in my way of doing things..."

Kanzeon grinned at him. "You're so dishonest, _Konzen_. Still, it was not the time yet for me to tell you that. But one day, you will get that answer that you seek."

Sanzo frowned at her before looking away.

"Then why did you come here? And my name is Gen—"

She snorted.

"Why not? I was worried about you. And who cares what name should I call you, you're still the same person. Anyway, can't I come by and just take a look at how you're doing?"

Sanzo groaned. "Haven't you been doing that _all_ the time? Watching us from wherever you are up there."

"Haha. True," she said before standing up to take leave. "Though... one thing that I could tell you."

Sanzo looked up towards her as he waited for her to continue.

"I was the one who had sealed him in that mountain cave and I was the one who had erased almost all of his memories."

He frowned. "Almost... all?"

Kanzeon shrugged. "I couldn't take away Goku's memory of his own name. You may laugh it off at me being selfish, but that was my own way of being merciful to him."

"Why didn't you erase that as well?"

Kanzeon stared towards Sanzo as if he had asked something so ridiculous. She ruffled his hair before answering.

"Since that name was something that my dear nephew had given to him. Even if that idiot nephew never really thought deeply about that name, I know how precious that name meant for both of them. It was because I had wished for him to continue being that child's sun, even if Goku wouldn't be able to remember him anymore." She sighed as she took a last look towards Goku's sleeping form. "But I guess that child still needed a _sun_ for him to depend on."

Sanzo frowned as he rose to confront her to ask her what she meant by that... but Kanzeon Bosatsu had already left.

Sanzo let himself fall back to his chair as he groaned.

"What the hell did you mean about becoming _his_ sun?"

xxx

"Sanzo?"

Hakkai sighed as he took away the cigarette from him.

"Sanzo? You're spacing out there, did something happened?"

Sanzo's eyes leered towards him before he broke the contact. He took his chopsticks before grabbing on a spring roll and ate it. He silently chewed on it, not doing anything else that even Gojyo was made uncomfortable.

"Oi, say something! You're spooking me up!"

A brief glare... and that was it. Sanzo poured some tea into his cup and sipped on it.

"Mind your own business, I don't feel like wasting bullets on you or anything else."

"Wha—! That's cold... Sanzo-_sama._"

Hakkai sighed again before getting up and taking a plateful of dishes with him.

"I'm checking up on Goku upstairs, if he woke up later at least we don't have to come back here to get food for him." Sanzo waved at him half-heartedly before calling over the waiter for another pot of tea. Hakkai shook his head at him as he headed back towards their room upstairs.

xxx

"Kyuu...!"

Hakkai smiled weakly. "Ah, I almost forgotten to feed Hakuryu today," he mused before looking down at the place he's holding. "—well, Goku wouldn't mind sharing—eh?"

He paused as he heard voices inside the room, which sounded like... Hakuryu talking to someone?

"Kyuu... kyuu!"

A familiar sounding laughter... but that voice! Didn't that sounded like...

xxx

Kanzeon Bosatsu smiled at the small dragon.

"I guess you were also influenced by them, weren't you?"

"Kyuu?"

She snorted to herself. "Hnn? Don't you know? I still kept the report that you've written long ago about that incident. I'm still amused at how you've managed to end up with them as well... in this form."

Hakuryu cooed again as she shrugged. "Of course, you wouldn't remember everything about the past... or did you? Isn't this why you continued to stay with them... in order to protect them?"

Kanzeon patted the small dragon fondly, before giving her a sad look.

"Did you... my dear Gaojun, regretted the fact that you couldn't protect Konzen and the others in the past?" She chuckled at it before letting the small dragon perched on the bedside. "Silly child... you should know that _that incident_ could not be stopped. Those children would continue on walking on their own path regardless no matter how much people would try to stop them."

Kanzeon spared a glance towards the door and smiling before turning her attention back towards the sleeping Goku. She gave Hakuryu a reassuring look. "And it seemed I didn't have anything much to worry about. The vague images that Goku had seen earlier would not linger long; it is not as if Goku really recovered his old memories. Just touched by it, briefly. The child would have forgotten about it soon enough... until the time comes when _they_ would confront it again."

She winked at the small dragon before running a hand over Goku's forehead.

"Be stronger... and take care of that idiot nephew of mine, Goku..."

The door of the room suddenly burst open as Hakkai stormed in.

"Kanzeon-_sama_! I—" Hakkai blinked as he saw no one inside the room spare Goku and Hakuryu. He sighed. "Just... when I thought I could ask something."

"Ask what, Hakkai?"

Hakkai turned his attention towards the owner of the voice before smiling in relief.

"Nothing, and I'm glad you've finally woke up. Want breakfast?"

The cheerful cry from the young one was enough to make him forget about the earlier troublesome thoughts...

xxx

"Ah... thank you, Hakkai! I'm so hungry!"

Hakkai smiled. It was comforting to see Goku acting like normal again, though... the things that he had overheard from Kanzeon Bosatsu still bothered him. So he hadn't been wrong to thinking that something had happened. Those peculiar behaviours that he saw from Sanzo and Goku, something did happen that time when the four of them separated and it was not over something trivial. Wonder if he could ask...

"Goku, can I ask you... what happened—"

The door to the room opened suddenly again as both of them turned towards it in surprise. Hakkai chuckled nervously at Sanzo before glancing worriedly towards Goku. Goku appeared a bit nervous himself as Sanzo kept his glare at him.

"So you're awake, huh?"

Goku swallowed nervously as he nodded slowly.

"...y-yeah."


	6. Reprieve

az: XD I just have to start getting back to the action XD

* * *

Old Nightmare

Chapter 5: Reprieve

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izzu

o

o

Sanzo casually popped open the can of beer he was holding before taking a sip. He resumed taking out the a newspaper onto his lap and started reading. Both Hakkai and Goku stared at him bewildered as Sanzo made no indication that he had wanted to talk to anyone, especially Goku.

Goku swallowed nervously before fidgeting.

"Er... Sanzo?"

"Hmm?" Hakkai stared at Sanzo curiously as the man acted strangely calm.

"I... I'm sorry."

Sanzo finally looked up from his paper as he raised his brows at him.

"Huh? Why are you apologizing to me?"

Goku bit his lips. "The other day... I got careless, and you got hurt—"

"I didn't die," Goku looked up at him as Sanzo turned his glance back to the newspaper. Goku stared at Sanzo's left arm that was now supported by a roughly-made sling. He looked down guiltily.

Sanzo leered towards Goku before letting out a soft groan.

"Don't kick yourself for that. I got careless myself—"

"—but that wouldn't have had to happen if I hadn't spaced out like that. Because you had turned around to warn me..."

"Don't give yourself too much credit. Until now I've gotten hurt countless times that I've lost count—but I still lived through it. Everyone takes care of their own lives—"

Hakkai laughed. "Haa, I'm glad that you brought that out, Sanzo. I always thought you tend to forget that you _are_ human after all. Your wounds don't heal as fast as ours would."

Sanzo got up and immediately turned his attention towards Hakkai as he shouted angrily. "Are you picking a fight with me?"

"But isn't it true that you tend to get reckless with your own well-being at times?"

Sanzo clamped his mouth as he sat back on his chair. Hakkai chuckled to himself.

"Sorry. It's all my fault."

Sanzo leered towards him again before picking up the newspaper that had fallen to the floor.

"Why _did_ you lost focus the other day... anyway?"

Goku sighed.

"I heard voices..."

Sanzo raised an eyebrow at him.

"I heard voices...it felt as if I've heard it somewhere before, Those voices hurling angry words at me... calling me heretic, bad luck. And then I saw you getting hurt... and suddenly I recalled many times before when you, Hakkai or Gojyo had gotten hurt. And also... somehow I had a feeling that... because of me, a lot of people had gotten hurt as well—it was so painful to think that I—"

"Goku..." Hakkai looked at him worriedly before he watched Sanzo placing his hand onto Goku's head.

"Idiot. There was no need for you to think about pointless things like that. You're just a silly monkey."

Hakkai chuckled again. "Yeah. It seemed Goku, there was no need for you to worry about troublesome things like this." Hakkai walked over towards them before leaning on Sanzo's back. "Because the one that would worry most about you... will always be Sanzo."

Sanzo hurriedly brushed him away as he snapped. "What the hell—get off! You're heavy!"

Hakkai laughed as Sanzo turned his attention towards Goku just in time to see that stupid look that always bugged him. Hakkai chortled as he watched Sanzo slammed Goku's face into a pillow...

xxx

"So... you wanna talk it out now?"

He glanced towards Hakkai as their position has changed; Sanzo sitting on the bed with Goku sleeping—after stuffing himself with food so much—on his lap as the other sitting on the chair he had vacated earlier. He sighed.

"What is it to be talked about?"

Hakkai suddenly dropped his guard as he glanced towards the door.

"I wonder where Gojyo is..."

Sanzo rolled his eyes at him.

"Up to his usual mischief... I suppose." he said as Hakkai laughed. The good-natured gesture died halfway as Hakkai grew serious.

"Earlier, I saw Kanzeon-_sama_ come visiting. And even though she had been talking to herself... I couldn't help overhearing her. Somehow... I couldn't make sense of what she had said."

Sanzo puffed on his cigarette before sighing.

"Well, if you can't make sense of it, just don't think about it."

Hakkai cocked his head at him.

"But Sanzo... _you're_ thinking about it as well, weren't you?"

He snorted.

"Hah! Because I could. Besides... it's not as if I could not think about it at all." Sanzo added as he saw Hakkai's inquiring look, "I had a dream few months ago, back when I had been unconscious after Homura attacked me. I've forgotten about it some time later but it came back recently. And with that cheap trick before..."

"You think it was related?" Hakkai finished the line as Sanzo shrugged.

"Maybe. But the hag herself said that right now this matter was not that urgent yet to pursue so I'll leave it at that. When that time comes later, we'll face it then. Less headache for all of us."

Hakkai sighed.

"You still worried about Goku?"

Sanzo gave him a look before shaking his head.

"I'm not... really. This monkey should be okay. I would have been more worried if this had happened when this brat was younger. I wouldn't be able stand it seeing this idiot cry again."

Hakkai laughed.

"—honestly, you really are like a _father_..."

"Shut up."

Sanzo scratched his head in annoyance.

"Damn... you've said the same thing as that hag did..."

xxx

Gojyo entered the room to see Hakkai, Sanzo and Goku sat huddled together over something. He walked closer to take a look as he saw that Hakkai and Goku were playing paper sumo again.

"Hee, aren't you guys bored of playing that already?" he asked before noticing a lot of discarded and ruined paper sumo figure being set at the corner of the table. And all of it resembled _him. _

"Hey! What's with all the _me _being all destroyed there—Sanzo!" he exclaimed as he noticed Sanzo looking like he was trying his hardest not to laugh. Hakkai chuckled.

"Sorry... but it does indeed gets amusing to see Sanzo destroys your paper sumo wrestler every time he's starting to lose—"

"Hakkai, you idiot!"


	7. Thoughts

az: If there was any typo or anything feel free to state it in the review. And forgive me for my muses went on getting sidetracked over some sissy topics. XD

* * *

Old Nightmare

Chapter 6: Thoughts

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izzu

o

o

Sanzo exhaled another puff of smoke before sighing. Another restless night. It seemed nowadays, getting a night where you would be able to rest in peace was so rare. You don't even have to ask about the peaceful times during the _day_. Between Gojyo and Goku's constant bickering and the usually raid attacks from their enemies, he doubted that he could ever get a bit of a moment's peace. Even if he does get them, he doubted it would last long.

"Not sleeping still?"

He leered at the source of the obtrusive sound.

"Are you keeping watch on _me_... Hakkai?"

Hakkai shrugged as he rose from the bed. Sanzo's eyes followed his movements as Hakkai soundlessly walked towards the other side of the room before he started to drag Goku's bed towards _his_ direction.

"Hey... what're you doing?"

Hakkai continued dragging on the bed while trying to do it without making so much noise before looking up and grinning at him. If it was possible at this distance, he could have tried throwing his paper fan at that smiling face. (But he could hit Goku... damn!)

Hakkai chuckled softly.

"I thought if I got Goku nearer to you, perhaps you would calm down a little and rest. It'll do no good to our group if _you_ got sick instead. And you need to remember that you needed to rest to allow that arm of yours to heal properly."

Sanzo twitched a little as he watched Hakkai push the bed towards the wall beside him without even waking the sleeping boy up. Not to mention Gojyo, though about him it was probably due to all the booze he had manage to get his hands on earlier. He sighed. Wonder why did Hakkai choose these few days to be extra cheeky with him?

"You are an idiot, you know? Are you satisfied now for teasing me this much? Go sleep yourself!" he hissed back as Hakkai continued grinning at him.

"Are you feeling better now?" Hakkai asked before snorting as his face was hit by a pillow. He chuckled. "Sanzo, I can't believe I'm saying this... but your face was red."

Sanzo blinked at him before hastily looking away. "Idiot... as if you can actually see in this dark."

Hakkai smiled at him. It was actually just a tease... he didn't actually saw Sanzo blush, but he seemed to take the bait. He sighed as he sat down at the edge of Goku's bed.

"I guess one can't actually not care so much about Goku. It would certainly be worrisome if Goku's mental psyche to be taking any kind of damage, especially after he had grown stronger all these times. Like that time when he had ran away and was caught by Homura or that other time when Goku's limiter had broke."

Hakkai frowned as he remembered something.

"Eh, Sanzo. Earlier you said when Goku was younger... had his limiter got broken before at that time?"

Sanzo nodded. "It was a few days after I took him back to Chang'An. I was away to confirm with the Three Aspects about Goku's identity and left him behind. If I'm not mistaken from the reports made later... the other monks cornered him and perhaps scared him so much—"

Hakkai blinked before noticing Sanzo stiffening up as the cigarette he was holding fell from his fingers. He sighed in relief to see that the cigarette ended up falling onto the ashtray Sanzo had taken along and not on the bed.

"Sanzo? Something wrong?"

xxx

He frowned. Why did he only notice it now?

That time... was the only time he had heard it. Heard Goku speaking to him while he was in Seiten Taisen form. That time, which Goku was it that had actually spoken to him...?

"_B-but... I thought... you were leaving me behind... __**Again**__..."_

_Again_? What did Goku had meant that time? That time... he had answered the kid without thinking. Because considering he had gone so far as taking him back to the temple, there was no way he could have thought about abandoning the kid. Sure, he had thought about other places that he could have placed Goku at... but abandoning him? Unlikely! And it was already five days that time, why did he start thinking like that _then._ Technically, they had only met after a few days... how could he even abandon him _a second time_ when he haven't abandon him _yet_? Leaving the kid for the night did not count as abandoning the kid.

_But the things that Goku have said at that time... _

His thoughts immediately went back to that time when they were trapped in that illusion barrier as well as that vision he thought he had seen... or felt. Could it be? Even if Kanzeon had said before that she had erased Goku's memories of his past except his own name... could Goku had referred to _that_ time when he said he was abandoning him?

Not like he really believed that past life story at all...

"Sanzo? Sanzo, don't scare me... why're you spacing out like that?"

He blinked as Hakkai's voice broke into his line of thoughts.

"Unh? No... nothing. My mind had just wandered..."

Sanzo's eyes fell towards Goku's sleeping form, as they softened. A tiny smile sneaked into his features as he thought in amusement.

_Then again, Hakkai's right. Even at his age right now Goku was still so adorable. Just like those few years long ago when the kid was still so small..._

"_Oh... how adorable are you, Kouryuu. How much I loved you so..."_

Sanzo immediately shook his head from that random memory. What the hell... there was no way he could turn into that old fart that was his silly Master—even if he could see a bit of similar affection he had towards his Master in Goku. It was true that Goku used to look so adorable... with those small limbs and build, as well as that cute child-like face that was so fat and round like a dumpling...

He hastily turned his face towards the opposite direction before Hakkai could even notice anything. Hakkai's teasing must have started to affect him... damn it!

"Sanzo?"

Sanzo hastily grabbed his blanket before covering himself as he made a move to go to sleep. He thought he could hear Hakkai laughing softly at him.

"Shut up, I want to sleep!"

He could still hear some snickering—ah, his left arm being incapacitated was not allowing him much movement—Sanzo bit his lips as he forced himself to sleep. Not sure if he had fallen asleep before or after Hakkai had walked back to his own bed, but the peace afterwards was still bliss.

xxx

"Gojyo... do you believe in past lives?"

The red-head looked up towards him as if Hakkai had grown some horns.

"That was unexpected, coming from you. Then again had this come from that blondie I could have shit some bricks—why was this sudden question?"

Hakkai shrugged.

"It was just a random musing. Though you know... I've never actually thought about this before, but being with you or Sanzo or Goku didn't feel so strange to me—even when we had first met. I felt as if I had known the three of you for a very long time."

Gojyo snorted.

"It's because it _felt_ like a long time, Hakkai. It doesn't necessary means anything. Besides, I don't think I liked it to have my life tied to that bratty monk for any reasons!"

Hakkai laughed heartily when he saw the awful expression Gojyo was wearing as he said that.

"Ha. Well... that was still an interesting thought."

"What suddenly prompt you to think about that?"

Hakkai just shrugged at the other guy without saying anything. Not that he did not have anything to answer to that... but well, for now perhaps he should keep this to himself. Besides, he would not give the pleasure of teasing Sanzo on any random nights to just about anyone.

He sighed as Hakkai glanced towards the outside of the window.

Personally, a part of him felt that he would not mind if the four of them did have that kind of connection to each other. It would make life seemed a lot less lonelier. For example, he had always liked seeing Sanzo and Goku being together. He had always felt that both of them needed each other, like an invisible bond between them. He can't really explain it, but he did feel that in a way... Sanzo seemed happy being with Goku, regardless how the latter might deny about it.

Then again, weren't all of them being dishonest to each other? Even if this very long field trip had been so bothersome, they did enjoyed themselves in between these times.

That aside, it would be hateful if there was anyone trying to break the harmony between them...

"Oi, what're you thinking very deeply over there?"

Hakkai smiled as he turned to face Gojyo.

"Nothing, I was wondering if Sanzo and Goku could manage doing the groceries by themselves..."

Gojyo snorted.

"Hah, I'd be wondering about that too. But that was rare for you to insist for them to go out buying stuff. Usually you either go yourself or drag me along as well as that monkey—"

Hakkai chuckled.

"Well this time it was on special occasion. Don't worry, next time I will make full use of _your _services, Gojyo."

Gojyo frowned at him.

"Taking advantage of good ol' me, eh? Very well. Though I wonder what did you say to that wordly monk to get his ass off here like that."

"Haha... I'm not telling."

xxx

"Ch, that Hakkai!"

Sanzo groaned as he stared at the shopping list. He glanced towards Goku who was carrying the groceries in his arms as Hakuryuu sat perch on Goku's shoulder, looking as if it was checking on the groceries to make sure they have gotten it all.

"Hmm... looks like we've got all of them. Did you want anything else?" Sanzo asked as Goku looked up towards him. Goku shook his head.

Sanzo frowned. "No? You usually would jump on it whenever I asked you, and I rarely allow you this treat anyway."

"No... it's okay."

Sanzo cocked his head at him.

"You feeling all right?"

"Unn!"

Sanzo sighed as they continued walking back towards the inn.

"Sanzo?"

He paused again as he turned towards Goku. "What?"

Goku bit his lips before looking up towards him. "I'll get stronger! I'll train myself more to become even stronger than now. I won't allow myself to get distracted again by the enemy's tricks... and I won't let anyone close enough to hurt y—aawh!"

Sanzo started pulling Goku's cheeks with his good hand before releasing him. He placed his hand on Goku's head before sighing.

"Ah, it seemed that I really need to get some extra dumplings for you after all."


End file.
